Inserting the Holidays into our writing- Opinion Writing!

Hey there!!  This is a quick post to share something we were working on in writing!

We just started opinion writing and I found this freebie and I thought it would be PERFECT for an introduction into opinion writing!!

This is great because it has the "Hiring Notice".  I printed that out and posted it up on my white board last week in the morning and said not a word about it.  In the middle of math (about 8:45 AM) I had a student raise his hand and say, "What is this elf for hire notice and where can I get an application????"  I said, "Hm.  We'll talk about it later."

Around 10:00 another student came up and asked about it and I said, "Hmmmm, I'm not sure...we'll have to check into it after lunch."  She said, "Oh, you know what it is...and I want to apply!!"  You gotta love it!!  Nothing builds engagement and suspense like putting something new up or in the room and then not saying a word about it!!

So, after lunch, I explained that Santa needed some new elves and they could apply.  They were, surprisingly, very excited about this.  Of course, I had to tell them they wouldn't really be able to be elves, which they said they totally understood, but they still wanted to apply.

So, we filled out the graphic organizer while I talked about what opinions are and how we could have an opinion, but we needed to back it up with facts and/or proof.  So, they could SAY they are very responsible, but can they PROVE it with examples??

They caught on real quick and had fun with it!

They went from the graphic organizer to the rough draft paper:

And, they could even invent/create their own toy to convince Santa that they were truly elf material!

I think they turned out really cute!

Then, I printed out some elves by Melonheadz and they colored them and they are now all on proud display in the hall!!

I love that they made the elves look like themselves for our hall display!

I know it's too late for you to do this year, but I definitely recommend it for next year!!  Anything that keeps these 4th graders engaged, especially during writing, I definitely recommend!!!  We'll do it every year!!
Amanda

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